1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to method and apparatus for manufacturing a friction plate in used for an automatic transmission and/or a lock-up clutch of a vehicle.
2. Related Background Art
In order to manufacture a plurality of friction plates having different diameters, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, it is known in the art to simultaneously perform a process for making a core plate and a process for making a friction member.
In FIG. 7, a large diameter core plate 51 and a small-diametered core plate 52 having a diameter smaller than the core plate 51 are simultaneously stamped, and independent large diameter core plate 51 and small-diametered core plate 52 are completely separated.
On the other hand, a large-diametered friction ring 53 corresponding to the large-diametered core plate 51 and a small-diametered friction ring 54 corresponding to the small-diametered core plate 52 are simultaneously stamped, and independent large-diametered friction ring 53 and small-diametered friction ring 54 are completely separated.
The large-diametered friction ring 53 is adhered to the large-diametered core plate 51 obtained in this way by an adhesive of the like, and the small-diametered friction ring 54 is adhered to the small-diametered core plate 52 by an adhesive of the like, thereby obtaining two friction plates 50, 60 having different diameters. Adhesion may be effected in different processes or may be effected in the same process at different times.
The aforementioned conventional manufacturing method has the following problems.
First of all, the number of adhering processes is increased depending upon the number of kinds of the friction plate, and, in set change, if the adhesion is effected in the same process, twice the time is required for the number of kinds of friction plate.
Further, when the adhesion of the friction plates having different diameters is effected in the same process, great time will be required due to set change in equipment.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems.
To solve the above problems, the present invention provides a method for manufacturing a plurality of friction plates obtained by adhering friction members to substantially annular core plates, comprising the steps of simultaneously stamping a plurality of coaxial core plates having different diameters with remaining joint portions therebetween, simultaneously stamping a plurality of substantially annular and coaxial friction members having different diameters corresponding to the core plates and with remaining joint portions therebetween to permit adhesion to the core plates, and stamping the joint portions of the friction members and the core plates when or after the friction members are adhered to the core plates.
Further, the present invention provides an apparatus for manufacturing a plurality of friction plates obtained by adhering friction members to substantially annular core plates, comprising means for simultaneously stamping a plurality of coaxial core plate having different diameters with remaining joint portions therebetween, means for simultaneously stamping a plurality of substantially annular and coaxial friction members having different diameters corresponding to the core plates and with remaining joint portions therebetween to permit adhesion to the core plates, and means for stamping the joint portions of the friction members and the core plates when or after the friction members are adhered to the core plates.
According to the present invention, the plurality of kinds of friction plates having different diameters can be adhered simultaneously. Further, the number of adhering processes can be reduced or the adhering time can be reduced greatly.
Furthermore, the number of set changes in the equipment can also be reduced, thereby improving productivity.